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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27929230">Punishment</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>BDSM, Bottom Kylo Ren, Dark, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dominant Rey (Star Wars), F/M, Kylo Ren Angst, Kylo Ren Lives, My First Work in This Fandom, Slavery, Submissive Kylo Ren, Top Rey (Star Wars), but it's definitely dark, not sure how to tag this, some kind of fucked-up atonement, sort of consensual but not safe or sane</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:14:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,561</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27929230</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The first scar Rey gives Kylo is in battle. It is the first time she connects with the Force intentionally. She slashes down with Luke’s saber and when she catches sight of the bloody, charred gash across her enemy’s face, she feels a small hint of satisfaction – that there are consequences, however disproportionate, for the destruction he has wrought. She thrills at the visceral proof that she has the power to bring consequences down on him. </p><p>Rey would give anything to have that power taken away from her now. </p><p>She is tired of bringing consequences to Kylo Ren.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Punishment</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">The first scar Rey gives Kylo is in battle. It is the first time she connects with the Force intentionally. She slashes down with Luke’s saber and when she catches sight of the bloody, charred gash across her enemy’s face, she feels a small hint of satisfaction – that there are consequences, however disproportionate, for the destruction he has wrought. She thrills at the visceral proof that she has the power to bring consequences down on him.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Rey would give anything to have that power taken away from her now.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She is tired of bringing consequences to Kylo Ren.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The war crimes tribunal had many planets’ traditions to pull from in choosing the method of punishment against the one-time Supreme Leader. Execution was on the table, as was a lifetime of slavery, preferably to a family he had wronged. He could have been chained above a Sarlacc pit for 20 days and 20 nights. He could have been thrown into a R’leyoff Vortex to live out the deaths of every man, woman, and child he had killed. In the end, the Resistance’s leadership recommended that he be handed him off to Rey, for retributive torture.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“You’re the only person strong enough to keep him in check if he takes up the dark side again.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“It’s in keeping with the ancient traditions of Jedha – that when one half of a dyad has committed wrongs, the other half must hold them accountable.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“When you judge that he has suffered commensurate with the suffering he has inflicted, his deed of ownership will pass into your hands permanently, and he can serve you however you see fit, or you can put him down if you don’t want the trouble of watching him. Normally, you’d be able to sell him off at that point, but I’m afraid there aren’t any Force users strong enough to keep him.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Rey knew it was no use explaining that he was a different person, now. That he was Ben. She knew well that Ben’s hands were the same hands that had Force-choked dissenters, that Ben’s eyes were the same eyes that had watched innocents cut down in his name. She knew it was his tongue that had issued the execution orders ending hundreds of lives.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">At first, Rey had felt foolishly grateful that stewardship of Kylo had passed unto her. She could mete out only the gentlest of punishments, and in private. Nobody would question Rey Skywalker, the woman who had ended the Final War. Her soul mate’s neck was safe. His guts would stay intact. Most importantly, he would be by her side. All she had to do was…lecture him, or something. They would figure out his atonement together.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">But when she voiced this line of thought to Ben Solo, visiting his holo cell on the flight to their temporary home of Takodana, Ben only stared at the floor, past his chained wrists, and shook his head slowly.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“No? What do you mean ‘no’?” Rey asked tensely, a tightness rapidly growing in her chest.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Rey…I…” Ben fell silent. Rey waited, not out of patience, but out of uncertainty of whether she could contain the blasted tears collecting in her throat if she opened her mouth.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Rey....” Dark eyes lifted and stared, unseeing, at a point on the wall of his cell. “By rights…I should be dead.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Rey’s hands went numb, a sensation she recognized as prelude to panic. She shook her head fiercely. Ben didn’t seem to notice.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I just mean…I thought I was dying…when I brought you back. I don’t know why I’m still here. The people I hurt….the survivors, I mean. They should…get to decide. What happens to me now. If they say I need to suffer…” Finally, he looked at her, certainty crossing over his expression. She hadn’t looked into his eyes in weeks – not since the Resistance hauled him away to await trial. Regret pooled in those eyes, enough regret to choke on. “If my survivors say I need to suffer, then that’s what needs to happen. If they say you should be the one to hurt me... then please, Rey.” He glanced down again, suddenly self-conscious of what he was asking from her. “Please hurt me. It’s right.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Rey reached out jerkily and grabbed Ben’s hand, dangling past the manacles. “I don’t know if I can. Ben Solo didn’t commit those crimes.” She knew she sounded desperate. She was desperate. She didn’t want this responsibility. Hadn’t she lost enough?</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Ben didn’t respond, only squeezed her fingers back. The two of them sat silently like that, hand in hand, until the whine of the hyperspace jump signaled that their journey was almost complete.</p><p class="p1"> </p>
<hr/><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The next time the two of them were alone, Rey had asked for the prisoner to be brought to her chambers after supper. As soon as the doors were closed, she dropped her pretense of serenity and rushed to embrace Ben. He leaned into the embrace as best he could with his hands bound behind his back. Rey waved the manacles loose and his arms came up immediately to encircle her. It was the best feeling in the world, even better than the triumphant group hug with Finn and Poe. Until he spoke.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“You say you don’t want to hurt him – me. You don’t want to hurt Ben,” he muttered into her shoulder. Rey grabbed his upper arms and pulled back to look into his face, frustrated that she couldn’t enjoy one moment of peace without the war crime tribunal’s judgment hovering over her head. “You can hurt Kylo Ren instead.” Rey felt her heart seize in her chest as her lover’s microexpression changed subtly, hardness in his eyes. His embrace ended, his posture stiffened. Rey’s hands dropped from his upper arms suddenly as if burned. “I’m a murderer. A torturer. A power-hungry boy-child bent on taking my rage out on the easiest targets.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He wasn’t looking at her.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Ben, no. No, I don’t want to see you like this.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“You have to hurt me, Rey.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“No! No. Stop.” Frustration built inside her. She agitated for an escape from this awful situation – she needed to get out of this cramped castle – she needed to breathe –</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Do your job, Rey! Or are you a pathetic, good-for-nothing scavenger rat - ?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Something tore in her chest and she backhanded Kylo’s face wildly, a loud SMACK ringing out in the empty room. Rey fell to her knees, a sob bursting past her lips. Moments later, Ben joined her on the floor, inching a hand towards her, afraid to touch.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Rey…I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You know I don’t mean that.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Rey felt her head bob up and down. She just wanted to rest. She’d been fighting for so long. She found her head in Ben’s lap, tears rolling down her cheek and soaking into his prisoner’s jumpsuit. She was afraid to open her eyes and look up to see his face, afraid of what expression she would see there. She hated crying. It always left her with a headache, and had been a waste of precious water in the desert.Ben’s massive hand cradled her cheek.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Rey…it’s not fair to ask you. I’m sorry. But I need you to do this. I need – “ His voice cracked. “I need the pain.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She opened her eyes. Anguish radiated from his expression.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Any time I have a moment’s peace, a minute to think, I find myself reliving all my worst actions. The villages razed to the ground, the mothers crying over their husbands’ bodies.” Rey shut her eyes again, trying to shut out the dark images he conjured up. Ben fell silent, waiting her out. She felt his full lips brush against her forehead in a gentle kiss. “I need some kind of escape,” he murmured into her skin. “Please help me.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">How could she say no to that?</p><p class="p2"> </p>
<hr/><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Once Rey had committed to seeing this task through, she started seeing it like any other challenge. On Jakku, she had returned time and time again to the downed cockpit that still ran a functioning flight simulator, learning how to fly all manner of ships in the galaxy before she ever piloted her first starship. She knew she had to study pain and catharsis, the body’s breaking points. Her combat training gave her a strong foundation to knowing the body’s weaknesses, and her mental connection to Ben gave her hope that she’d know when to push and when to pull back. She could do this; she could return to him the ability to fall asleep at night.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Three days after their arrival at Takodana, Ben and Rey had just finished a simple mid-day meal in her chambers.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I’m ready to begin,” Rey told Ben, setting her spoon in her empty bowl. She marveled at the calm in her voice and how sharply it contrasted with her thumping heart.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Ben nodded, once. His answering smile looked fragile.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Put our bowls out in the hallway. And—“ she hesitated. “Come back as Kylo, please.” Ben nodded again.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">When he returned to the dining room, his relaxed posture was gone. Kylo Ren’s jaw clenched, his arms stiff at his side.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Take off your tunic and lean forward against the tabletop, with your forearms under you. Clasp your hands and don’t drop that position until I give you leave.”</p>
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